Nayla Al Khaja's New Film 'Baab' to Debut at Cairo Intl. Film Festival

When Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja takes the stage at the 46th Cairo International Film Festival, she won’t just be presenting a film; she’ll be marking a turning point for Emirati cinema. Her latest work, Baab, is the first Emirati feature directed by a woman to premiere at one of the Arab world’s oldest and most prestigious festivals. A psychological drama steeped in loss and memory, Baab (Arabic for “door”) follows a woman haunted by the death of her twin sister. Caught between reality and illusion, her grief becomes a passageway where silence, sound, and desert landscapes merge into something hauntingly surreal. The film brings together an exceptional international team, including A.R. Rahman, the two-time Academy Award–winning composer behind Slumdog Millionaire, who creates his first-ever score for an Arab film. His music mirrors the emotional dissonance at the film’s core: a dialogue between light, loss, and sound. Shot entirely in the UAE with over 140 cast and crew, Baab stars Saudi actress Shaima Al Fadl in her cinematic debut, alongside Huda Al Ghanem, Mira Al Madfa, Sabitha Majeed, and Mansoor Al Nuaimi. Produced by Nayla Al Khaja and Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki under Dark Dunes Productions, with support from the UAE Ministry of Culture’s National Grant for Culture and Creativity, Baab signals a growing confidence in Emirati independent filmmaking, where local stories are told with global language. After its world premiere in Cairo, the film will head to a wide regional release across the Middle East and North Africa in early 2026 through VOX Distribution, marking one of the most ambitious theatrical runs for an independently produced Emirati feature.